Conventionally, this kind of component feeding head apparatus has been known to have various structures (see, e.g., Japanese unexamined patent publication No. H11-102936 A). For example, there is a component feeding head apparatus 501 shown in FIG. 12.
As shown in FIG. 12, the component feeding head apparatus 501 has a holding nozzle 502 for holding a component at its top end, and includes a head unit 503 for supporting the holding nozzle 502 so as to allow rotation (so called θ-rotation) of the holding nozzle 502 around its center of axis, a θ-rotating unit 510 for θ-rotation of the holding nozzle 502 around the center of axis, a head inverting unit 520 for rotating the head unit 503 so as to invert it in vertical direction, and a lifting unit 530 for moving the head unit 503 up and down along the center of axis.
As shown in FIG. 12, the head unit 503 includes a ball screw shaft 504 with the holding nozzle 502 fixed to its top end, and a nut 505 fitted to the ball screw shaft 504. Moreover, the θ-rotating unit 510 can transmit a rotational motion of a drive motor to the nut 505 as a reciprocating motion in the vertical direction with use of a cam and cam follower. With the vertical reciprocating motion of the nut 505, the ball screw shaft 504 is rotated around the center of axis, thereby allowing θ-rotation of the holding nozzle 502.
Moreover, as shown in FIG. 12, the θ-rotating unit 510 and the head inverting unit 520 are both supported by a head frame 540, and the head unit 503 is also supported by the head frame 540 in a way that allows inversion. Further, the head lifting unit 530 can move the head unit 503 up and down by moving the head frame 540 up and down.
Moreover, although unshown in FIG. 12, the component feeding head apparatus 501 includes a moving device (unshown) for moving the head unit 503 between a position at which components are picked up by the head unit 503 from a component arrangement unit in the component feeding apparatus having respective components arranged so as to be picked up to a component transfer position at which the picked up components are transferred to a mounting head for mounting the components on a substrate in the component mounting apparatus. The moving device performs the moving operation by moving the head unit 503, the θ-rotating unit 510, the head inverting unit 520, the head frame 540 and the head lifting unit 530 in an integrated manner.